Papers of John Augustus Bonney, and Bonney family papers
Scope and Contents
The collection comprises research notes compiled by Bonney - begun while he was himself imprisoned in the Tower - from named source materials, as well as graffiti he recorded from locations throughout the building. It includes manuscript draft and final versions of chapters for Bonney’s unpublished history of the Tower of London, which recounts the Tower’s story through case histories of its prisoners.
The collection also contains a diary kept by Bonney during his imprisonment; a list of papers seized by the King’s messenger at Bonney’s address in Percy Street on 15 May 1794; and correspondence, some of which Bonney reused as writing paper for his own research. This correspondence includes letters written in 1807–1808 to Spencer Perceval, Chancellor of the Exchequer, containing suggestions for the regulation of taxes. In addition, the collection holds family papers, including wills and family portraits, an election account book for 1802, and a diary of Francis Augustus Burdett Bonney, 1827–1836.
SC-Acc-2021-0021 comprises the sixth and final part of John August Bonney’s manuscript history of the Tower of London, dated c.1794. In the same format as the earlier chapters, it consists of notes on prisoners held in the Tower during the Civil Wars of the 1640s, followed by an index of prisoners. The accession also includes a note on the life of John Bonney, sent as a letter and dated 29 November 1825.
Dates
- Creation: 1794-1836
Creator
- Bonney, John Augustus, d 1813 (Solicitor and Author) (Author, Person)
- Bonney, Francis Augustus Burdett, 1804-1877, Surgeon and Writer (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Open. Please contact repository in advance. Access to records in a fragile condition may be restricted.
Biographical / Historical
In 1794, the solicitor and author John Augustus Bonney was held as a political prisoner in the Beauchamp Tower, Tower of London, while awaiting trial. Papers of his had been seized from his business in Percy [Percey] Street, St. Pancras on 15 May 1794. Bonney, described as a 'money scrivener', was subsequently noted as bankrupt in the London Gazette, 22 November 1800. John Augustus Bonney died in 1813.
Full Extent
3 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Material purchased in 1964, Accession no. E64.19.
Manuscript history of the Tower of London by Bonney purchased in January 2021, Accession no. SC-Acc-2021-0021.
Subject
- Title
- Papers of John Augustus Bonney (d 1813), and Bonney family papers
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379
heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk